Hindu students forced to remove ‘Janeu’ before CET exam; forced violation of rules

Located in Madiwala, Bengaluru Kripanidhi College A serious incident hurting the religious sentiments of Hindus has come to light during the Common Entrance Test (CET). In the name of security check at the examination center, many Hindu students were deprived of their sacred sacred thread (sacred thread) Was forced to take off. After this incident, there is deep anger among the students and their families and the politics of the state has also come to a boil.

The victim students, while narrating their ordeal to the media and police, told that they had reached the examination center at around 9:40 in the morning. The staff posted at the entrance refused to let him inside until he removed his sacred thread.

An aggrieved student told news agency ANI, “I had reached the center around 9:40 in the morning. They saw my sacred thread and stopped me. They started saying that you have to take it off, else we cannot allow you to write the exam. About seven more students like me were also asked to take off the sacred thread. We had no option, so we took it off. I felt very sad and could not concentrate properly on the exam due to mental stress.”

Students say that they had to face such an abusive situation amid the pressure of an important exam, which disturbed their concentration.

Surprisingly, similar incidents were reported last year also in districts like Shivamogga and Bidar. After the controversy escalated at that time, the Karnataka government had issued clear guidelines that students would not be asked to remove Janeu (which is worn inside the clothes), Kalava, Tilak during the examination. Despite this, the same incident was repeated again in the 2026 exam.

During the state Congress government’s Higher Education Minister M.C. Sudhakar has accepted this mistake. He told the media, “During the CET exam, some boys were asked to remove their sacred thread. The authorities have termed this as extremely disturbing as such incidents had taken place last year too on which strict instructions were given. Despite clear guidelines and the deployment of special officers to monitor the dress code, this issue has been repeated, raising doubts whether this was done deliberately. The government considers this act to be a violation of human rights and privacy. No student should be allowed to wear a dress code. One should not be forced to choose between education.”

#WATCH | Bengaluru | A student who appeared for the CET examination at the center in Krupanidhi College, Madivala, Bengaluru, says, "I went to the center around 9.40 am. I kept the bag in the room and they didn’t allow me because they saw my ‘Janeu’. They started telling that you… pic.twitter.com/2I36COrm7k

— ANI (@ANI) April 24, 2026

The minister further said that instructions have been given to file a complaint against the examination center management and the Deputy Commissioner (DC) has been asked to take strict action.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has taken a tough stance on this incident. BJP MP Tejashwi Surya and other leaders have termed it an “anti-Hindu” act. There is debate on issues like Hijab, while why religious symbols like Janeu, which are not likely to be copied in any way, are being targeted. BJP leaders questioned what threat could a thread wrapped around the body pose to the sanctity of the examination?